The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for processing images, and more particularly to an image processing method and an apparatus of a type which transfers images to another system.
Hitherto, an image communication apparatus such as a facsimile apparatus reads an image as a binary-coded image by an image scanner thereof. When data about the read binary-coded image is communicated, the binary-coded raster image is coded/compressed by a method such as a MH, MR and MMR method and it is transmitted to a facsimile apparatus disposed at the other end of the data line.
Incidentally, in the case where a facsimile apparatus disposed on the transmission side reads an original document in a G3 fine mode (main scanning: 8 pel/mm, sub-scanning: 7.71 line/mm) and transmits the read original document to a facsimile apparatus disposed at the other end of the data line and having a standard recording resolution (main scanning: 8 pel/mm, sub-scanning: 3.85 line/mm), that is, in the case where the resolution of the read image on the transmission side and that on the receiving side are different from each other, the facsimile apparatus on the transmission side temporarily returns the read image to the binary image, and then it again encodes it as an image having the standard resolution so as to transmit the image.
In the case where a facsimile apparatus disposed on the other end of the data line has only a function of printing a received image on an A4-size recording paper sheet and a facsimile apparatus disposed on the transmission side transmits a read B-size original document, the facsimile apparatus on the receiving side contracts the image before it prints out the image.
However, the aforesaid image conversion process and the image expansion-compression process cannot enable an excellent image to be obtained because the aforesaid processes use only an interpolating process and a thinning process.